In many types of work situations gloves are required or desired in order to reduce or remove the time the bare hands are in contact or in risk of contact with for instance chemicals, detergents, or bacteria. On the other hand, the risk of skin diseases, allergy, or skin irritations increases if the gloves are used for too long especially if the gloves are of poor quality. Furthermore, in certain work environments, the gloves are required to be taken off for instance when leaving certain rooms.
A few different kinds of apparatuses and devices are known for aiding in taking on or off gloves without having to touch the outer surfaces of the gloves while doing so.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,938,685 describes an apparatus where a disposable glove is stretched over a ring and into a chamber. An underpressure is created in the chamber thereby enlarging the glove whereby the user can more easily insert the hand into the glove. The apparatus can not be used for taking off the glove. Furthermore the way the underpressure is created makes the apparatus rather bulky and unsuitable to be moved around.
In DK BA 2002 00105 is described an apparatus comprising a chamber with a bellow which is compressed when the user sticks the gloved hand into the chamber. A non-return valve below the below allows the air to escape the chamber, so that when the hand is again moved in the direction out of the chamber, an underpressure is created, the glove becomes enlarged and the hand can be removed from the glove. This however results in the drawback that hand is difficult if not impossible to remove from the chamber with the glove on or without having to use the other hand. The apparatus is thus only suitable for taking off a glove and not for aiding in taking on a glove.
Another drawback of the known apparatus is the attachment or placement of the glove in the device either being very firm and tight but requiring an initial stretching of the glove which is undesirable in taking time and the need of two hands, or in being only loosely placed but then not always sealing sufficiently tight to the chamber to obtain the required underpressure.